“Unreal II: The Awakening was one of the most anticipated and celebrated single-player first person shooters of the year, but fans have been hungry to play against one another online,” said Steve Allison, vice president of marketing in Atari’s Los Angeles studio. “Unreal II: The Awakening Special Edition will deliver the same epic single-player game to those who may have missed out, along with the all-new multiplayer mode fans have been waiting for.”
In the single-player game, players jump into the scarred combat boots of a grizzled lawman of the future to battle a torrent of bizarre alien creatures and hard-hitting enemy soldiers. The mission: win a brutal galactic race to collect powerful artifacts and stop a malevolent plot to awaken an ancient power. Dispatched to unique worlds ranging from stunningly realistic outdoor terrain to spine-chilling alien cities, the player will face off with Unreal’s legendary nemesis -- the fearsome Skaarj -- along with a host of all-new enemies, each hell-bent on eradicating the player and his compadres.
The all new XMP mode is a class-based multiplayer game where teams use vehicles, cooperation and Unreal II: The Awakening’s devastating weaponry to battle it out across large-scale terrain maps. Teams fight for control of energy sources to power their war machines, deployment points to get to the front lines quickly, and ultimately, four artifacts that are required to win each match. Current owners of Unreal II: The Awakening standard edition will be able to download the XMP multiplayer mode for free on the day the Special Edition package is released.
Unreal II: The Awakening Special Edition will include:
- Innovative Game Play Unreal II: The Awakening combines intense, pulse-pounding action with the magic of exploration and discovery as well as in-depth character interaction
- Advanced Technology Under the hood lays the latest Unreal technology from Epic a hundred-fold increase in level geometry and a 10-fold increase in character detail over the original Unreal. The advanced particle system creates the illusion of blazing fire, drifting smoke and weather effects
- Knuckle-Whitening Enemy AI Enemies use their new AI to find cover during fire-fights, work together in teams and react believably based on the caliber of weapon the player is carrying
- Devastating Arsenal Fifteen flesh-chewing instruments of destruction are available, ranging from familiar alien-bashing favorites like the Rocket Launcher and Combat Assault Rifle to all new exotic alien variants modified by your cantankerous ship’s engineer
- A Large Bestiary of Creatures The fearsome Skaarj return along with a host of all-new enemies
- Unreal Editor -- Amateur level designers and mod makers will receive the most powerful game creation toolsets ever released to the public the same tools the masters used to make the game. The Unreal Editor, including the Unreal Editor's “Matinee” tool for making non-interactive cinematics, is included out of the box.
Unreal II: The Awakening Special Edition will be available for personal computer at retail stores in North America in December with an estimated retail price of $29.95 and an ESRB rating of “M” for Mature. Additional information about the game can be found online at www.unreal2.com, which features downloadable and streaming game play movies, screenshots and other game information and background.